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VANCOUVER—The B.C. Supreme Court judge who gave Huawei’s chief financial officer a measure of freedom on Tuesday is no stranger to big decisions and outside pressure, say lawyers unconnected to the case.

All eyes were on Vancouver judge and former Crown lawyer William Ehrcke on Tuesday as he weighed arguments for and against granting bail to Meng Wanzhou. He delivered his decision at 2 p.m., allowing bail under strict conditions after hearing three days of arguments.

Meng was arrested in Vancouver’s international airport on Dec. 1 over allegations of fraud coming from authorities in the United States.

Her arrest has angered China, where she is an icon for her role as CFO of the telecommunications giant Huawei. The country’s foreign ministry accused Canada of violating its trade agreement in the arrest and threatened “grave consequences” if she is not released.

Canada-China relations reached a boiling point earlier Tuesday as a former Canadian diplomat to China was reportedly arrested there. There is no evidence the arrest was related to that of Meng.

Meng also found local support in B.C.’s Lower Mainland. Supporters gathered Monday outside the court where her bail hearing took place, holding signs that read: “Free Ms. Meng.” Neighbours and friends offered retirement savings up as surety for Meng, the court heard Tuesday.

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But Vancouver lawyer Peter Edelmann, who has expertise in extradition cases, said in an interview Tuesday that heavy political pressure would not have swayed the judge.

“The pressure is something that will be an issue for the minister’s office but not for the judge,” Edelmann said. “Judges of the B.C. Supreme Court are quite used to dealing with high-profile cases.”

That is certainly true for Ehrcke.

In 2015, Ehrcke sentenced an RCMP officer to 30 months in prison for lying in a public inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver’s airport. The decision came eight years after Dziekanski died in a police confrontation.

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As a Crown lawyer, Ehrcke argued to the Supreme Court of Canada in R v. Cuerrier — a landmark case in which Canada’s top court ruled Henry Cuerrier was criminally responsible for assault when he had sex with two women without revealing his HIV-positive status.

Ehrcke wrote an evocative submission to Canada’s top court as part of the case, which included the analogy: “If a man invites a women to tea, and she consents, does he not exceed the scope of her consent when he knowingly serves her tea in a cup containing traces of arsenic?”

The decision has led to many criminal convictions related to HIV nondisclosure.

Ehrcke, a University of Victoria law school alumnus, was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia bench in 2003. He served for 13 years full-time before electing to become a supernumerary — part-time — justice in 2016.

His decision to allow Meng to leave detention at the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women while she awaits a hearing for extradition — a process that could take a year — will now come under international scrutiny.

Michael Lacy, a Toronto lawyer, said Tuesday that an extensive “surety package” including local community members is to be expected in cases like Meng’s.

He said assurance from the community that the person will not flee is “normally the biggest concern with extradition bails.”

“So having a package that includes local people willing to put up their own property and their own money is consistent (with what we’d expect),” Lacy said.

The Crown argued Meng is a flight risk due to her wealth, which could make any cash surety disposable, as the Crown lawyer in her bail hearing put it.

But if Meng were to flee it, would put a black mark on Canada’s extradition treaty with the U.S.

“When Canada has someone in their custody and the person flees, Canada is then not living up to its international obligations. So that’s a factor that’s considered,” said Edelmann.

Correction — December 12, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated lawyer Peter Edelmann’s given name.

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